a sister’s legacy · 28 africa’s sons and daughters what hope is there for a continent often...

September 9, 1999

World Edition

A Sister’s LegacyThe meltdown at Chernobyl affected one family in ways they could never have imagined.

Africa’s Sons and Daughters

Of False Hierarchies andHuman Gods

A Sister’s LegacyThe meltdown at Chernobyl affected one family in ways they could never have imagined.

Africa’s Sons and Daughters

Of False Hierarchies andHuman Gods

A New Mood in IndiaWhat an inspiration Bill Johnssonbrought to us by his well-written arti-cle “A New Mood in India,” July 8

issue of the Review,plus the related edito-rial in the same issue(“Lessons FromIndia”). Coming fromJohnsson, who sharedwith us the leanyears, it meant all the

more—a charitable and understandingrecognition of what we see happeningtoday, not as a negative reflection onsome possible missing factor in pastendeavors, but as a joyful recognitionthat in God’s providence the time ofreaping has come after many years.Well done—God bless you, and Godbless India.

— Te d To r k e l s o n

B L A C K F O O T, I D A H O

The July 8 report on India thrilledme—I just wish my parents, who gave25 years of mission service to India,could see what is happening now.

The photograph of Bill Johnssonand his wife with Vincent Hill Schoolin the background came very close tomy heart, as my father was principalthere for 13 years. I got my early edu-cation at VHS.

May the Lord continue to blessIndia and also the work you are doingat the Review in giving guidance to thechurch and reporting the progress ofHis work around the world.

— M a r g a r e t B l u e J a c k s o n

L O N G V I E W, WA S H I N G T O N

Having recently visited India myself, Iam grateful for Dr. Johnsson’s three-paragraph reference to religious libertyin the world’s largest democracy (“ANew Mood in India,” July 8). Indeed,recent spasms of anti-Christian actionsprang, in the main, from political ani-mus, not religious. India’s instrumentsof governance do guarantee freedom ofreligion—and this freedom we’ll cele-brate in New Delhi November 16-18at the International Religious LibertyAssociation World Conference onReligious Freedom. Great program.Fine hotels. Delicious Indian food.The Adventist Review’s liberty-lovingreaders everywhere are invited to par-ticipate.

— R i c h a r d L e e F e n n , d e p u t y

s e c r e t a r y g e n e r a l , I R L A ,

G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e

S I LV E R S P R I N G , M A R Y L A N D

Waiting for a VisaChitra Barnabas’ article on TomCarter’s global journey (July 8), whichturned into holding patterns of delay,disappointment, and detour, illustratednicely how God remains directingevents behind the clouds of life’s per-spectives. Those still held in someholding patterns are cheered on byarticles such as this one. Thank heav-en no one, including no seeminglyhuman-controlled circumstance, reallyhas the ultimate direction of one’s lifebut God. His thoughts and His waysare always mercy and kindness.

— J o e H a g a nO R A N G E , V I R G I N I A

Knowing for SureFor more than 60 years our Lord hasguided me into many Bible classes,seminars, series of meetings, sermons,individual Bible study, and our fineSabbath school lessons. For those rea-sons, I venture to reply to CalvinRock’s “Knowing for Sure” (July 8).

Both my observations regard thefirst question, first column. I believeEllen White’s two statements do agree.I believe Jesus’ human nature was cre-ated and human, through His mother,Mary—“identical with our own.” Also,we must be “warned from the groundof making Christ altogether human,such a one as ourselves.” There is nocontradiction here. The four Gospelsare full of His healings and other mira-cles, as well as His parables and teach-ings, proving that He was and isdivine. His resurrection and ascensionare further proof.

As for the two Bible references(Matt. 27:44 and Luke 23:39-43), I seeno problem there, either. Matthew per-

LETTERS

2 (1226) A D V E N T I S T R E V I E W , S E P T E M B E R 9 , 1 9 9 9

An Unbelievable OfferTo mark our 150th anniversarywe’re offering a year’s subscription tothe Review for only $19.99—that’sjust 43 cents per issue—the lowestprice ever! This offer is for a limitedtime and applies only to people whohaven’t subscribed for at least oneyear. If you don’t subscribe, act now!If you do subscribe, tell someoneabout this great offer. To subscribe,call 1(800) 456-3991; or contact usthrough our World Wide Web siteat www.adventistreview.org.

haps was called away from the cross,and did not hear the plea of the repen-tant thief to Jesus. Besides that, Lukewas not one of the original 12. He hadthe advantage of elapsed time, and hadprobably talked with several other dis-ciples in addition to Matthew.

— P e a r l L . P f l u g r a d

P O R T L A N D , O R E G O N

Test Your Global Mission IQI believe that the several hundredBritish people reading the AdventistReview (July 8, p. 21) around the worldwill have chuckled at reading thedescription of the Isle of Wight as an“island nation.” The island is no morea separate nation than Long Island isdistinct from the U.S.A. It is not justBritish, but Britain!

Furthermore, why does the GeneralConference perpetuate the myth of theisland being an unentered territory?My father-in-law, Pastor Fred Edwards,back in the 1960s, pastored the groupof some 15 baptized members for anumber of years. The group had existed,even at that time, for decades. Onehopes that the IQ of the GlobalMission Department is a little moreprecise than it appears!

— M a r t i n L . A n t h o n y, P e r s o n a l

M i n i s t r i e s D i r e c t o r

T R A N S - E U R O P E A N D I V I S I O N

Implications of the IncarnationThe Word of God points not only tothe Messiah and His message but alsoto the mandate and the methods weshould employ in the fulfillment of ourGod-given mission. Adventists, likeother denominations, neglect to reflectupon the methods God employedthroughout the centuries and in variedcultural settings in reaching His lostcreation. We often turn exclusively toother sources and sciences when devel-oping evangelistic and missionarystrategies. But the God who gave usthe mandate has also revealed themethods by which His mission may be

successfully accomplished. StephenChavez (“Implications of theIncarnation,” June 10) strikes the rightnote in reminding us that theIncarnation is not only a theologicalstatement. It is also the method bywhich we should reach those near andfar. Let us turn to the Scriptures in thesearch of principles we should stillapply today in ministry and mission.

— F. E d g a r N u n e s

B E R R I E N S P R I N G S , M I C H I G A N

Forgive Me for Coveting!I have been paging through my collec-tion of Adventist Reviews and cursing (Ithink I may be forgiven for this kind ofcurse!) the powers that control theglobal economy and the rate ofexchange. We all know what EllenWhite said about the state of financialaffairs toward the end of time, and weare certainly living in those times.Satan is tying us up in chains of dollarsand cents—to the extent that thoseliving in the “developing” countries nolonger can afford the simple joys oflife—the weekly Review!

God bless you for a great magazine.Next year I’ll thumb my nose at Satanand order the Review anyway!

— M a u r e e n M o r o f f

N A M I B I A

COVER STORY

8 A Sister’s LegacyThe fallout from the Chernobyldisaster—both good and bad—willbe felt for years to come.B Y J E N N I F E R M A E B A R I Z O

ARTICLES

13 Heart to HeartThe essential qualification for work-ing with the blind—or anyone else.B Y R O N B O W E S

22 “Hello, My Name IsDarren Bucklew”How susceptible are you to beingscammed?B Y R O B E R T R . W R E S C H

24 Of False Hierarchies andHuman GodsWhat does it mean to be divine?B Y E L I J A H M V U N D U R A

28 Africa’s Sons and DaughtersWhat hope is there for a continentoften embroiled in religious, political, and tribal conflicts?B Y T H O M A S P. M I L L E R

DEPARTMENTS

2 Letters

7 Give & Take

12 Bible Questions Answered

16 Adventist World Radio

17 Tuesday’s Child

18 World News & Perspectives

27 Faith Alive!

30 Reflections

EDITORIALS

5 The Scandal and the Mystery

6 The Crater Cake

NEXT WEEK

“I Was a Lost Cause”Have you heard the one about the atheistwho went to church?

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Letters PolicyThe Review welcomes your letters. Short,specific letters are the most effective andhave the best chance at being published.Letters will be edited for space and clarityonly. Send correspondence to Letters to theEditor, Adventist Review, 12501 OldColumbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; Internet: [email protected] network: 74617.15.


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Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ through stories ofHis matchless love, news of His present workings, helpfor knowing Him better, and hope in His soon return.

Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day AdventistsExecutive Publisher William G. JohnssonAssociate Publisher Charlotte McClure

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Scriptures credited to ICB are quoted from theInternational Children’s Bible, New Century Version, copy-right © 1983, 1986, 1988 by Word Publishing, Dallas,Texas 75039. Used by permission. Texts credited to NIVare from the Holy Bible, New International Version.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International BibleSociety. Used by permission of Zondervan BiblePublishers. Bible texts credited to NRSV are from theNew Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of theNational Council of the Churches of Christ in theU.S.A. Used by permission.

The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119), published since1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day AdventistChurch. It is published by the General Conference ofSeventh-day Adventists and is printed 40 times a year eachThursday except the first Thursday of each month by theReview and Herald® Publishing Association. Periodicalspostage paid at Hagerstown, MD 21740. Copyright © 1999,General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.Vol. 176, No. 36

ROY ADAMS

Dear Sir,” she wrote to the Adventist Review edi-tor, “I stumbled across [the November 13,1997, issue of] your magazine . . . for the firsttime in a Laundromat.”

That was Tunde Saheed ofBladensburg, Maryland—a Muslim. Her rea-son for putting pen to paper was not simply totell us she’d found the publication “interestingreading,” but to take exception to an article inour Letters column by Paula Nixon ofAuburn, California—who herself had writtento take issue with a cover story we had run onMuslims two months earlier. In spite of simi-larities between Islam and Christianity, Nixonhad written, many important dissimilaritiesremain. Chief of these, she said, was that theMuslim “Allah” and the Judeo-Christian“God” “are not the same.” Allah, she said, “was not the Godof Abraham.”

Saheed vigorously begged to differ. They are the same,she argued. No one religion can claim God as theirs alone.“In spite of our differences God, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh,and by any other name we choose to call the Almighty, Godis the Lord and Creator of us all.”

Nixon may well be versed in Muslim theology, for all Iknow; but I question her conclusion on this point. At anyrate, if Islam maintains that the same Supreme Being weChristians call God (or Yahweh) they prefer instead to callAllah (which simply means “the God”), what possible harmcould come from simply accepting that claim at face value andmoving forward from there? If we have to draw a line in thesand, that would not seem to be the issue on which to do it.

But Nixon did put her finger on a point that has consid-erable validity, I think. She referred to the tendency on thepart of some Christians naively to overplay the significanceof points of similarity between Islam and Christianity. Islam’shigh regard for Jesus, for example. It would be as if a groupof people who hold to the deity of Moses were to imaginethey could capitalize on Moses’ high standing in theChristian Bible to convince Christians to accept him asGod. How wrong they would be!

Deeper Than We ThinkWe probably need to listen more carefully to the kind of

reasoning Saheed advances for the Islamic position. Islamaccepts Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammad as prophets.“But,” said Saheed, “we do not worship any of them, nor dowe deify them.” And why not? Because, she explains, Muslims

“[believe] in and worship God without associat-ing with God any deity ‘in the form of anythingin heaven above or on the earth beneath or inthe waters below.’ ” “It is this unadulterated beliefin the oneness of God,” she says, “and the totalsubmission to God’s will that . . . is the essence ofcreation.”

We misjudge the gravity of this cardinalMuslim tenet when we overplay the evangelis-tic significance of Islam’s acceptance of Jesus asa prophet. Says Saheed, “We do not accept thesonship of Jesus, for it is clearly and without anydoubts in our minds beyond the glory and

majesty of the Almighty God . . . to arrogate to Himself ason.” The Quran “confirms . . . [Jesus’] miraculous birth,”she says, “and the miracles performed by him.” Then sheadds, expressing without knowing it the scandal ofChristianity, “It tells us that for a servant so anointed by theAlmighty to be persecuted and nailed in the fashiondescribed in the Bible was not possible.”

The deity and Messiahship of Jesus were no less offensiveto the Jews of the first century, steeped in Old Testamentmonotheism. But with the coming of Jesus, a new dimensionof truth dawned. And while still remaining radical monothe-ists themselves, the early Christians nevertheless uncompro-misingly affirmed a powerful new reality, not of their owndevising: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is noother name under heaven given to men by which we must besaved” (Acts 4:12, NIV). Whether this attractsus or repels us, it is fact.

My message to Tunde (if I may use herfirst name just this once) is that there isno rational explanation for Jesus Christ.In His person we come face-to-facewith impenetrable mystery—Immanuel, God with us in humanflesh. We remove our sandals andwith Thomas exclaim in sublimewonder: “My Lord and my God!”(John 20:28, NIV).

The Scandal and the Mystery

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KIMBERLY LUSTE MARAN

“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven” (Rom. 4:7, NIV).

It was mid-March and in honor of the ensuing springseason, our church asked members to bring green foodsand drinks to the fellowship dinner. I was about 15and thrilled to discover that our family had beenassigned desserts. I’d bake a yummy chocolate cake

with green frosting!The task began. Eggs, oil, and my

mom’s secret ingredients (My lipsare sealed!) found their way ontothe countertop. I opened the cup-board and pulled down a box ofBetty Crocker’s best.

Satisfied with my mix of a richlythick and dark tarlike substance, Ipoured it into a large, flat sheet-cakepan. I set the pan in the preheatedoven, pushed the appropriate 22-25minutes on the timer, and waited.

I must have used a little toomuch of my mom’s secret ingredients, because after 25 min-utes the toothpick I inserted into the jiggly mass came outcovered with a gelatinous brown coating. Intent upon acloser look, I snatched an oven mitt from its hook andgrabbed one side of the pan by its short “handle.” One mitt,one hand. Heavy cake pan. Disaster loomed.

My wrist and hand bent uncomfortably as I valiantly (orstupidly) attempted to set the cake on the counter. In a last-ditch effort not to splatter chocolate goo on the floor, Ijumped and used my body weight to throw the cake up ontothe counter’s surface. The cake made it high enough, butthe momentum carried it too far. It slipped from my graspand slid right into a sink half filled with dirty mixing bowls,measuring cups, and warm sudsy water.

I reached for another oven mitt and slopped some of thefallen cake back into the pan. I tossed off the mitts andgrabbed chunks from the frothy sink, trying to put backpieces of cake that weren’t too soggy or soapy. I desperatelymashed these remnants back into the pan and rammed thecake back into the oven.

Fifteen minutes later I pulled the cake out and left it to cool.Something’s wrong, I thought as I breezed back into the

kitchen about 20 minutes later. The kitchen was freezing.Someone had opened the window, and cold air was rushingin. I looked at my cake and gasped in horror. A swimmingpool-sized crater filled (or should I say emptied?) the middle.What should I do? My eyes lit upon the two tubs of frostingsitting peacefully in the corner. I had planned on using onlyone, but now . . .

Golf course-green frosting covered my spring-themedcake. It looked great. Smooth, level,delicious. Would anyone find outthat the middle of the cake was twoinches of frosting and only half aninch of cake? Would it taste likePalmolive dish liquid?

Yes! My friends laughed at myaudacity and wrinkled their noses atthe slight soapy taste. “How couldyou ever think you’d be able tocover this up?” they asked.

How often do we do this—coverup a mistake by patting things backinto place and pretending nothing

happened? How often do we realize we’ve done somethingwrong and instead of starting over or at least admitting theproblem and seeking help, we slather “frosting” across it andtry to live as if everything were great?

We all make mistakes—church members and leadersalike. But our systematic way of trying to coat the problemsor squish them into the floor won’t make them disappear.When leaders place church money in unapproved invest-ments or citizens raise lawsuits against church policy andpractice; when members ostracize a pregnant unwed teen-ager or conveniently forget the elderly man who gave chil-dren quarters every week for their offeringbut now resides in a nursing home, we mustadmit our mistakes—a true church ofChrist’s followers must do nothing less—and we must be forgiven.

I’m glad that my friends discoveredmy counterfeit crater cake and that Iwas able to “come clean,” forgiven ofmy mendacity.

Our church needs to do the same.

The Crater CakeE D I T O R I A L

The middle wastwo inches of

frosting and onlyhalf an inch

of cake.


GIVETAKE

&

ADVENTIST QUOTES

“Sometimes ittakes strengthto sit still.”—Ed Komorowski, Danville, Washington

“In praying, remember, it’s not theelegance of our words—it’s the sin-cerity of our hearts.”—Randy Maxie, Danville, Washington

“We must be purged before Hecomes, or we will be consumed afterHe comes.”—Doug Batchelor, via e-mail

ADVENTIST LIFE

As personal ministries direc-tor I made a report to thechurch board on the Y2K prob-lem and the impact it mighthave on our area. The boarddecided that no action wasneeded.

The next month I was toreport on the rental of twobooths at our local fair. When Icalled the fair office I was toldthat the two ladies in the officehad sent out two different datesfor reserving the booths. Onehad sent out a date for that month and the other had sent one for the nextmonth. This caused a big problem in paperwork and they were unable to confirmour rental at that time.

At our board meeting I said that the fair office had a 2YW computer problem andI was unable to make my report. One member said, “You mean a Y2K problem?”

My reply was “No, not Y2K but 2YW— Two Young Women— at two differentcomputers putting out the wrong information.”—Dale Graham, Tyler, Texas

One grandma told me of a lesson she learned from her grandson on a visit toher home. At mealtime she kept putting special, good food on his high chair tray.He always said, “Thank you, Grandma.” Finally he asked, “Grandma, are you anAdventist?”

“Why, yes,” she replied.He responded: “Then why don’t you say ‘You’re welcome’?”

—Velma Beavon, Dayton, Montana

PATHFINDERS WASH CARS FOR SCHOOL

WE DO WINDOWS,TOO: The AshlandEagles Pathfinder Clubearned $200 in oneweekday afternoonthis past May during acar wash fund-raisingevent. The funds willbe used to help theAshland, Wisconsin,church school, whichopened in the fall of1997. The AshlandEagles Pathfinder Clubformed a year later.


WE NEED YOU

Send Give & Take submissions to . . . Give & Take, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904; Fax: 301-680-6638;

E-mail: [email protected]. Please include phone number. Submissions will not be returned.

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A Sister’s LegacyHer dying sister taught Dina Grimailo lessons about

love, hope, and everlasting life.

C O V E R S T O R Y

she would scratch them till they bled;her wounds became perfect portals forthe carcinogenic particles to breakinto her body.

“We were kids; we didn’t under-stand,” says Dina, remembering.

Nine years later Natasha’s skin started to turn yellow.

She began to look anemic, and thetests showed that her hemoglobincount was lower than usual. In May

1995, at age 14, she was diagnosed with cancer. “My mother and father did not want to lose a child. They

would have done anything to save her,” says Dina. In des-perate need for blood for Natasha, their father roamed thestreets of Moldova, buying blood from strangers to keep hisdaughter alive. He even resorted to visiting nearby prisons,soliciting for blood.

Meanwhile, Natasha’s condition was deteriorating. Herparents were becoming frantic. As a last resort, they wrote aletter to Seventh-day Adventist evangelist Merril Enwright.In a short time their whole family acquired visas to enter theUnited States, where Natasha received treatment free ofcharge at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.

“Our whole family went to the Adventist church whenwe came to the United States,” says Dina.

They had all been born and baptized into the Greek

BY JENNIFER MAE BARIZO

THERE ARE MANYmoments to begin thisstory—this tale of twosisters, a legacy, andlove. But let’s start at

the part that is recorded in history,that fateful day 13 years ago whenthe Chernobyl nuclear power stationspewed its deadly poison into theUkrainian skies. Lack of communica-tion concerning a routine electricaltest provoked an uncontrollable power surge that resulted ina violent explosion of the reactor, releasing tons of radioac-tive chemicals into the air. The nuclear fallout of the disas-ter was 90 times greater than the atomic bomb that landedin Hiroshima, and 10 years later babies were still being bornwith no arms and legs, a stump in place of a limb.

On April 26, 1986, the day of the explosion, and forweeks afterward, the wind blew the toxic plumes of radio-active chemicals all over Europe.

After the explosion Dina and her sister Natasha playedbeneath the green rain and ate cherries from poisoned trees.Dina was 8. Natasha was 5.

The only children of Andrei and Raisa Grimailo, they livedin Moldova, 400 miles from Chernobyl’s doomed reactor.

Natasha had had an infection at the time, which causedopen sores to appear on her skin. The sores would itch, and

Natasha Grimailo a few months before she died.


Orthodox Church, and Dina recallsthe pastor once saying that all otherdenominations were from the devil.

“Naturally, I was cautious about theSeventh-day Adventists,” says Dina. “Ieven told my parents that I would notjoin the Adventist Church, even ifthey gave me a million dollars.” Butan impression had already been madeon her heart. She started reading theBible, which was foreign to her. “Inthe Greek Orthodox Church, thetruth was whatever the pastor said,”Dina says of her former religion.According to Dina, their family hadnever been very religious. “I do notremember ever being spiritual orattending church willingly,” she says.Natasha even made fun of her forgoing to church.

But during this time in Florida, Dinawas her sister’s constant companion.“She was a frightened, sick girl,” saysDina. Their parents returned toMoldova and left Dina to take care ofher sister. “I was mother, father, friend,nurse, and sister to her,” she recalls.

“She neverwanted me toleave her. I fedher, cared forher. At night I would sleep by her side.”

Meanwhile Natasha’s conditionwas not improving, as the doctorshad anticipated. She had been givenprednisone, then chemotherapy, butthe cancer always marched back,invading her young blood. Theydecided to give her a double dose ofchemotherapy, with the hope that itwould help heal her ravaged bloodcells. The treatment eradicated themetastasized cells, but in a few daysthe stubborn cancer cells reappearedwith a new intensity. The only op-tion left was a bone marrow trans-plant. Almost $100,000 was raised tocover costs.

In order to go through with thattype of transplant, a person withmatching bone marrow or blood cellshad to donate their blood. Their mar-row would be dripped through acatheter into Natasha’s blood cells in

an effort to replace stem cells that hadbeen killed.

Dina was the only compatibledonor in the family. As siblings theywere genetically similar, but after ablood test, it was determined thatDina’s marrow had only a 50 percentchance of matching her sister’s.

Through a donor registry, hundredsof bone marrow donors were tracked tofind a perfect match for Natasha. One100 percent blood match was found.The registry attempted to track him.Phone calls and exhaustive searcheswere made to find her blood match, butto no avail. Days passed, and Natasha’shealth was rapidly deteriorating. Andthey could not find the one person whocould possibly save her life.

“It was the only time I knew ofthat Natasha cried,” says Dina. “Shecried when they told her she wasgoing to die.”

Left, Dina Grimailo stands beside a memorial for herlate sister, Natasha, in their hometown of Moldova,Ukraine.

Below, Dina Grimailo receives her associate degree innursing from President Gordon Bietz at SouthernAdventist University on May 3, 1999.

Background: Chernobyl , April 26, 1986

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Going Home to Die “I want to go home,” Natasha said

when the doctors told her that theycouldn’t do anything else to save her.Her parents were hesitant. Moldova wasnot progressive, and the hospitals werenot equipped to deal with Natasha’sworsened situation. Medication would bescarce, and drugs for pain relief were theGrimailos’ main concern. They did notwant their youngest daughter to die inpain. But Natasha insisted, and in Mayof 1996 she and her sister took the longflight home.

“They had to teach me how to stickneedles into my sister. I had to be withher all the time, to talk to her and togive her medication.” On the planeDina learned how to administer mor-phine intravenously to her sister, andshe had to do it many times after that,as Natasha would scream in pain.

Somehow, though, in the midst ofthe tears and the heart-rending cries,they heard the Lord’s voice. Natasha’sparents were baptized, and at Natasha’srequest she was anointed three daysbefore she died.

“Once Natasha screamed, ‘Jesus,please take me already. I can’t make it

anymore,’ ” Dina remembers painfully.“But she knew that God loved her tillthe day she died.”

The Legacy ContinuesFor Dina, having just lost a sister,

nothing made sense. “We had prayed for so long. We had

been sent to America so her life couldbe saved. One hundred thousand dol-lars was raised. Why did God send themoney if Natasha didn’t need it? if shewas going to die?”

Natasha’s death had precluded thebone marrow transplant, but the fund-raising committee still had nearly$100,000 that had not been used.Members thought of building a memo-rial to Natasha in her home country,but the committee decided to redirectits focus on Dina. They wanted Dina,who had unfailingly cared for herdying sister, to become a nurse. Withthe funds raised to save her sister’s life,Dina was sent to Southern AdventistUniversity, in Collegedale, Tennessee.

Victor Czerkasij, director ofadmissions at Southern AdventistUniversity, was involved in makingarrangements for Dina to come to

Southern. “The new country, thelanguage barrier, and the differentculture were difficult for Dina to getused to,” Czerkasij says, “ but sheknew she was at Southern for a pur-pose. She realized that whatever wason earth was temporary. She knewthat one day she would see her sister again.”

Dina says that amid the changes,she knew that God was working in herlife. “I had flown 16 hours and had noidea where I was. Everybody had aSouthern accent that I couldn’t under-stand, and I failed the TOEFL twice.But I was in America, and because ofmy sister’s death, I was going to get aChristian education.” Dina was a liv-ing legacy of love.

It was at Southern AdventistUniversity that Dina was first fullyexposed to the church and to theGod she had caught glimpses of inthe ordeal of her sister. There sheattended her first Bible class, theNET ’96 meetings by Mark Finley,and was finally baptized.

“Looking back, everything startsmaking sense. I realize what is impor-tant in life, and that God has led me

Religion in Today’s Russia

Religion has played a distinct role in the cultural and his-torical background of Russia. However, religious influencehas often been dependent on the political health and stabil-ity of the country.

The majority of believers belong to the Orthodox ChristianChurch, which originated at the end of the tenth century,when missionaries from Byzantium converted PrinceVladimir of Kiev to Christianity.

Presently there are about 100 million Christians in theregion, with more than 70 percent being Russian Orthodox.Other Christian denominations include the Old Believers,Baptist and Evangelical groups, as well as Lutherans. TheMuslims, with 19 million members, are the second-largestreligious community in Russia. There are roughly 5 millionProtestants and 4 million Roman Catholics. There are morethan 500 Adventist churches in Russia.

Under the former Soviet Union, religious freedom wasconstitutionally guaranteed but often strictly stifled by thegovernment. For the 70 years of the Communist regime,atheism was rampant, and many revered Lenin, Stalin, and

other Communist leaders. During that repressed period theKGB supposedly installed cameras in certain churches tomonitor worshipers in order to curtail religious expression.

When the Communist regime collapsed in 1991, it lefta spiritual vacuum that a variety of eager missionaries andcult followers rushed to fill. Hare Krishnas could be seenparading Nevsky Prospect in their monklike garbs,Jehovah’s Witnesses crusaded with their literature, andEvangelical Protestants swept through the cities with theirsoul-winning efforts.

But in 1997 a law signed by Russian president BorisYeltsin divided religious groups into two categories: thosethat could prove 15 years of activity received full legalrights. Other groups, which had to register with authorities,faced a bevy of government restrictions. The law also recog-nized the Russian Orthodox Church as an important ele-ment in the history of Russian culture and religion.

According to Vikto Zorkaltsev, Committee on ReligiousAffairs, this law was put into effect in an attempt to limitthe presence of new religions, cults, and sects.

U.S. vice president Al Gore, who was in Moscow in 1997 fortalks with Russian leaders, objected to the law as discrimina-tory. His objections, however, were for the most part ignored.


to the best place for me,” Dina sayswith conviction.

Czerkasij echoes her sentiments.“The God that she was looking for wasreflected in the people she met and inthe love the community gave her,” hesays. “No matter what tragedies or set-backs she had, she was always positive.She always had a smile, even when shewas crying.”

As Dina translated her anatomyand physiology textbooks word forword, she also learned to read theWord of God and Ellen G. White’sDesire of Ages.

“My old friends thought that theAdventists had brainwashed me, but Ilearned and discovered most of it bymyself, reading the Bible,” says Dina.

“Every time I call home now mymother tells me to pray and trust inGod. We have become so much moreunited as a family, even if I am on the

other side of the world now.”

Salvation From a ChildDina tells me the story of how her

sister handed her a white envelopebefore she died.

“Open this after I die,” Natashasaid, pressing the little packet into hersister’s palms.

When Dina opened it a white rub-ber eraser fell into her fingers. Dinaturned it around in her hand, readingher kid sister’s familiar handwriting.Written on it, amid pen-drawn doo-dles, were five words.

“I love you. Don’t cry.” They are sad words. Scrawled on a

rubber eraser by a sister who was littlemore than a child when she died. Dinamasks her emotion well as she speaks,but even with the weight of the pastyears, there is something enduring inher shadowy eyes that is often missing

in the gaze of those who have lostsomeone they loved.

“I hate to say it sometimes, but Ibelieve her death had a reason. Wehave to think of what is more impor-tant, the physical body or the spiritualbody. Christ was born, and died to savethe world,” Dina pauses, her wordsbringing back a flood of memories. “Mysister, she was just a child, but she hadto die to save me and my family, just asJesus died to save sinners. I neverwould have known—she saved me.” ■

Jennifer Mae Barizo is fromOntario, Canada, and plansto pursue a career in musicand political science.

Chernobyl’s Lasting Effects

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power station inUkraine was to be shut down for routine maintenance.Unfortunately, safety precautions were inadequate, resulting ina sudden and uncontrolled series of explosions that releasedthousands of tons of radioactive chemicals into the air.

135,000 people near the disaster site were permanentlyevacuated to avoid exposure to radiation. Since then morethan 400,000 have left the region because of the accident.

Because of frequent changes of wind direction during theexplosion and shortly thereafter, the area affected by theradioactivity was very large, encompassing all of theNorthern Hemisphere, although the significant contamina-tion was in the former Soviet Union and parts of Europe.

For days the Soviet government remained tight-lippedwhile people walked beneath the green rain and childrendrank milk contaminated with deadly doses of radioiodine.

Approximately 270,000 people still inhabit the contami-nated areas with dangerous levels of radiocesium. Geneticmutations also resulted from chronic exposure to chemicals.

Of the 400,000 workers involved in cleaning up after theaccident, up to 40,000 are unable to hold full-time jobstoday, and 5,000 are too sick to work. The death rateamong these workers is 30 percent higher than the rest ofthe Ukraine’s population.

Studies of the population in the affected areas have dis-played an increase in thyroid cancer among children.According to the National Resource Defense Council,

between 1966 and 1985 there were 21 cases of thyroidcancer reported in Belarus. Since 1986 more than 400cases have been reported. The incidence of cancer causedby Chernobyl is expected to peak in 2005.

There has also been an increase in the number of tuber-culosis cases, which specialists think has been caused bythe radioactive particles in the air. The incidence of goitershas doubled in certain provinces in the Ukraine, as has theincidence of anemia. In some regions, such as Krasnoyarsk,the number of tumor cases has risen by 41 percent. Infantmortality and birth defects have also been on the rise.

Radioactive material continues to spread. A flood in March1996 affected 30 million as it transported Chernobyl’sradioactive waste to the reservoirs of Kiev. In a 1991 inter-view Tamara Byelookaya, head of the Institute of RadiationMedicine in Minsk, said, “It is clear that . . . the whole popu-lation of the republic is being subjected to internal irradiationby the food they consume . . . 100 percent. You have only tolook at the postmortem investigations done by our own scien-tists. They show that even the citizens of the Vitebskprovince, which is supposed to be absolutely clean, havestrontium and plutonium in their bodies. The only way [thosechemicals] could have gotten there was by being eaten.”

An executive summary put out by the Nuclear EnergyAgency stated that Chernobyl “produced severe healthconsequences and physical, industrial, and economicdamage in the short term, but also its long-term conse-quences in terms of socioeconomic disruption, psycholog-ical stress, and damaged image of nuclear energy areexpected to be longstanding.”


ANGEL MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ

Should we not immediately baptize those whoaccept Christ as Saviour, and then teach themour doctrines? Was not that the practice in theapostolic church?

It is not easy to answerthe question of the content, extent,and timing of the instruction givento new converts to Christianity inthe apostolic church (usually called“catechesis,” from the Greek verbkatecheo, “to teach”). Historical evi-dence indicates that from the sec-ond to the fifth centuries Christiancatechesis took place before bap-tism. Once infant baptism was pop-ularized, a shift took place and bap-tism preceded catechesis. Let’s lookat a few New Testament passages foranswers.

1. The Gospel Commission—Matthew 28:19, 20: Jesus com-manded the disciples to “go and make disciples . . . , baptizingthem . . . , and teaching them to obey everything I commandedyou” (NIV). Since “teaching” is last on the list, it is sometimesconcluded that the catechesis was given after baptism.

But the text is not as clear as some believe. The relationbetween the two participles—“baptizing,” “teaching,” andthe main verb, “make disciples”—is not clear in Greek. Ismaking disciples explained in terms of baptizing and thenteaching, or should the participles be taken as imperatives,listing what the Lord expects from the disciples withoutemphasizing the specific sequence?

Based on Greek grammar, the first possibility is very unlikely.The second has the support of Greek grammar. Because of theambiguity of the passage one cannot be dogmatic, but even ifwe accept that there is an implicit sequence, then making dis-ciples would imply that some prebaptismal instruction wasgiven to new converts and that after baptism instruction wascontinued. The question is not whether catechesis precededbaptism but how much instruction was given.

2. Church Practice in Acts: After Peter’s sermon at Pente-cost 3,000 were baptized “that day” (Acts 2:41, NIV). Theinstruction they needed was given through a sermon and“those who accepted his message were baptized.”

Philip “proclaimed [literally “was proclaiming,” suggesting

progressive action in the past] the Christ” in Samaria andmany were baptized. His message included the good news ofGod’s kingdom and the name of Jesus (Acts 8:5, 12, NIV).

Obviously some instruction wasgiven before baptism. Philip alsoexplained the Scripture to theEthiopian, beginning with Isaiah 53,before baptism (verse 35). Paul bap-tized the jailer and his householdafter speaking “the word of the Lordto him and to all the others in hishouse” (Acts 16:32, 33). Afterinforming him that he had to believein the Lord Jesus, Paul instructedhim, and then baptized him.

3. Content of the Catechesis: Amongthe most important topics mentioned,in the apostolic speeches in Acts, wefind the good news of Jesus Christ

(8:35), His death and resurrection (3:15), His exaltation andmediation (2:33; 5:31), and His Lordship (2:36). Other doc-trines mentioned are repentance (2:38; 3:19), forgiveness(13:38), justification (13:39), worship of the true God (17:29),final judgment (17:31; cf. Rom. 2:16), general resurrection(24:15; 17:18), second coming of Christ (3:20, 21), the king-dom of God (8:12), and the Holy Spirit (2:38).

This impressive list indicates that instruction was given tounbelievers before they were baptized. The amount of catech-esis probably depended on the background of the individual.

4. Implications for Today: If baptism means the end of anold way of life and the beginning of a new one (Rom. 6:4),it is simply impossible to baptize someone without explain-ing the practical implications of a Christian life.

This is not just a matter of sharing present truth; it is amatter of honesty. Baptism joins people to the church andcalls them to stand for truth. The least we can do is ascer-tain whether they understand our mission and the biblicaltruth we proclaim.

Angel Manuel Rodríguez is an associate director ofthe Biblical Research Institute of the GeneralConference.

Teach Now, or Later?B I B L E Q U E S T I O N S A N S W E R E D

It is impossible to baptize someonewithout explaining

the practical implications.


Heart to HeartServing those who are blind is easily done when

your heart is in the right place.

F E A T U R E

BY RON BOWES

DOUG MARTIN

came to the Blind Center in

San Diego, California, a

depressed and

beaten man

who considered himself an

agnostic. Every day he was

angry, not so much because he

was blind, for that was a fact

of life he’d come to grips with

some years before, but because some-

thing besides his sight was missing.

Into Doug Martin’s world came a voice, a woman’s

voice, a sympathetic voice. She’d heard about his anger

from others at the center, and she was there to help.

PHO

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DI S C

/ D

I GI TA

LC

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P OS I T

E


However, when Martin heard thatthis woman’s work was based on reli-gion he “exploded.” He lashed out ather with profane and searing words,ending with, “I’m not buying whatyou’re selling!”

When the verbal torrent was fin-ished, Molly Lesick was still there—lis-tening. “I saw something in that manthat told me he was reaching out, eventhough he didn’t know it yet,” saysLesick, a representative of ChristianRecord Services, the official ministryof the Seventh-day Adventist Churchthat focuses directly on the needs ofthose who are blind.

Starting SmallMolly Lesick has seen that “some-

thing” in the lives of hundreds ofblind people. Her special ministry tothem has been to teach them the ben-efits of healthful living. Because ofher concern, Lesick has been invitedto speak to thousands of blind peopleat national conventions, presenting amessage straight from the Seventh-day Adventist “playbook.” “Lifestylechanges in easy doses,” she calls it.“It’s a way to combat obesity, diabetes,and heart disease, which are epidemicamong blind people.”

Martin was invited with othermembers of the Blind Center to acooking school. Those who are blind

do their cooking school up close andpersonal. They gather around to touchand feel. The most important factor,however, is the simplicity of the prepa-rations. While many blind cooks candeftly handle sharp knives, can open-ers, hot ovens, and more, those whoare blind, as do most of us, need tokeep it simple.

“The recipes we teach are similar tothose traditionally included in vegetar-ian cooking schools,” says Lesick, whohas altered these recipes so that a slow

cooker, a blender, and a microwaveoven are the only appliances needed.

For most blind people, the idea ofhealthful cooking is a new thoughtaltogether. Many are borderline diabet-ics and face serious consequences ifthey continue to neglect their health.Therefore, Lesick believes that a bal-anced diet and exercise are the “mostimportant things we can teach.”

A Simple PlanMolly Lesick’s approach is very sim-

ple. She goes where the blind peopleare, and she meets their needs. “Mostblind people don’t mind a discussionconcerning their disability; they justwant respect,” she says. And she givesthem that respect, along with ahealthy dose of Christian love.

In Doug Martin’s case, he needed apersonal program of rehabilitation, soLesick started by trying to meet hisneeds for a better way of life here andnow.

Blind since birth, Doug had builthimself a relatively good life. Hereceived a master’s degree in engineer-ing from Penn State University, thenworked as an acoustical engineer forthe Navy for 17 years. However,recently his life has been unraveling.He has been divorced, estranged fromhis child, dependent on prescription

Assistance Provided by Christian Record Services

All who are blind, legally blind (20/200 with corrective lenses), or have physicalimpairments that prevent them from holding reading material are eligible for the fol-lowing free services:

Subscription Magazines are available in braille, large print, and audiocassette.Full-Vision Books combine braille and print, enabling blind parents to read to

their sighted children and sighted parents help their blind children learn to readbraille.

Lending Library lends more than 17,000 volumes in braille and audiocassette.Gift Bibles and Study Guides are available in braille, large print, and

audiocassette.National Camps for Blind Children are operated throughout North America.Scholarship Assistance is given on a limited basis to blind young people trying

to obtain a college education.For more information, visit the website: www.christianrecord.org.

In Perspective

Do’s and Don’ts for relating to blind people:Do treat them as ordinary people.Don’t raise your voice or use childish language.Do speak when you enter the room. They want to know who’s in the room with

them.Don’t leave cupboards and drawers open.Do show blind houseguests where things are (closet, dresser, bathroom, etc.).Don’t worry about being politically correct; just say “blind.”Do introduce them to others.Don’t ask someone else (a spouse or friend) what they want; ask them.Do encourage them to talk about their interests (beyond how it feels to be

blind).Don’t think of them as blind people, just people who are blind.Do tell them what’s on their dinner plate, using the hands of a clock—12, 3,

6, 9—as a frame of reference.Don’t worry about saying, “Good to see you.” They’re happy to “see” you too.

—–Adapted from The Courtesy Rules of Blindness, www.blind.net.


drugs, a smoker, an unemployed profes-sional, a bitter person, a wreck.

Where should the helping processbegin?

At the beginning, Molly decided,with breakfast. Doug, it turned out,had never eaten a decent breakfast inhis adult life. Most of the time it wasjust a cup of coffee and a cigarette.This would lead to a day filled withanger. Molly helped point out to himthat his angry explosions were directlyrelated to his lack of nutritious food.

Slowly Molly tackled Doug’s prob-lems one by one. A stop-smoking clin-ic at Paradise Valley Hospital, a cook-ing school for several blind people inthe home of a friend, a visit to anAdventist church, a weekly Biblestudy, an Adventist attorney to helpwith legal problems, and a financialcounselor to help him get back ontrack financially.

Although this story doesn’t end in abaptistry, things are definitely headedin the right direction for Doug Martin.He considers himself an “earnestChristian” and attends church on bothSunday and Sabbath. He enjoysSabbath school. He enjoys the weeklyBible study, where pages of brailleBibles turn, and discussions are great.Not all of his questions have been

answered yet, but he iscontinuing to look for theanswers.

So what’s the secret ofMolly Lesick’s witness?

It’s not the studyguides; there are none. It’snot the braille literature.It’s not the cassettes thatsupplement her activities.It’s not the camping pro-gram headed by ChristianRecord Services. It’s noteven the combination ofall of the above. It’s thesingular devotion of a lifeto the lives and needs ofothers.

How can you help thisministry? If it is your gift,you can reach those whoare blind just as Mollydoes—one person at atime.

In almost every metro-politan area in the UnitedStates and Canada there are federallysponsored blind centers, just like theone Doug Martin visited in San Diego.These centers are filled with blind peo-ple who could use a helping hand.

Christian Record Services (CRS)has more than 100 workers in the

United States and Canada engaged infull-time ministry to the blind people.CRS publishes the oldest braille reli-gious magazine in America. There aremore than 300 students studying theBible in braille and large print at homethrough the CRS Bible School. CRShas a 17,000-volume lending library ofbooks on audiocassette. We also oper-ate National Camps for BlindChildren/Adults every summer.

As Christian Record Services entersthe new millennium and a second cen-tury of service, the staff seeks to createan increased awareness of how sightedindividuals can assist the blind peoplein their communities.

“Blind people may be hard topreach to,” says Larry Pitcher, presi-dent of CRS, “but they are easy tolove. With 1.2 million blind people inNorth America alone, there are lots ofpeople who need us.” ■

Ron Bowes is public relationsdirector for Christian RecordServices in Lincoln,Nebraska.

BOWLING BLIND: Molly Lesick and Doug Martin enjoy anevening of friendly competition at a local bowling center. Ablind bowling league is surprisingly competitive-–especiallywhen the lights are turned out.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: Blind people enjoy being with people of all kinds. Here, a groupgets ready to study the Bible and enjoy Christian fellowship.



PETER MUNDU as told to ALEX DANG

Michael Hembrom’s understanding of theBible went from confusion to clarity after helistened to AWR broadcasts in Hindi—andas a result, 23 people have been baptized.

Michael, his wife, two sons, and a daugh-ter-in-law live in Chirudih, Bihar. Honest and faithfulChristians, they listened regularly to many religious broad-casts, but they were confused by the variations in the mes-sages they heard.

One day Michael tuned in to the Adventist World Radiobroadcast in Hindi. He was fascinated with the messages, andtook notes onevery subjectfor personalstudy. Aftersome time hewas convincedof theAdventistmessage, andhe wanted tojoin theAdventistChurch, buthe didn’tknow whereto find one. Sohe and hisfamily prayed,asking God to show them the way. And God did.

Michael’s wife, Phulmani, works for the GovernmentChild Welfare Department. About the time the Hembromsprayed for God’s guidance, Phulmani attended the districtchild welfare workers meeting. Refreshments were served,and Phulmani observed that one woman, Mrs. Silas, politelyturned away the offer of tea. Phulmani remembered the pro-grams on health she had heard on the AWR broadcasts, soshe spoke to Mrs. Silas, who shared the Adventist healthmessage. She also told Phulmani that she was a member ofthe Adventist company at Bagjobra. Phulmani wasthrilled—Bagjobra was just six miles (10 kilometers) fromher village.

Returning home, Phulmani told her husband about theAdventist believers of Bagjobra. They decided to go there

and find out all about thisgroup.

The next day anacquaintance of theHembroms, BenjaminSoren, happened to meetMichael and said he hadmissed seeing Michael inchurch on Sundays.Michael immediatelyshared his newfound faithwith Benjamin, who, inturn, insisted that they goover to Bagjobra andlearn more. They set outthe next Sabbath toattend services. The busline was on strike, but thisdid not deter them. Theyhired a rickshaw, went toBagjobra, and met thebelievers there, where theywere received with joy.

When this Adventistcompany conducted anevangelistic meeting inChirudih in December1998, 23 people—includ-ing the Hembroms—expressed their commit-ment to Jesus through bap-tism. Another 16 peopledeclared that they wantedto join Scripture studyclasses. Please pray forthese new believers, thosestudying the Bible, andthose listeners still search-ing for the truth.

Adapted from a story reported by Peter Mundu to Alex Dang,field evangelist, Bihar Section, India. Courtesy of the SouthernAsia Tidings and Edwin Mathews, director of the AdventistMedia Centre, Pune, India.

AWR Raises NewCompany in India

A D V E N T I S T W O R L D R A D I O

ON THE TRAIL OF TRUTH: Michael Hembromand Benjamin Soren made their first trip to anAdventist church in a rickshaw like this onein Bihar, India—seeking truth in spite of a busstrike.

BEHIND THE MICROPHONE: R. P.Singh is all smiles over the resultsof the Hindi program he producesfor broadcast over Adventist WorldRadio. He is praying that manymore listeners such as MichaelHembrom will find Bible truththrough these radio programs.

NO LANGUAGE BARRIERS: EdwinMathews is director of the AdventistMedia Centre, Pune, India, whereprograms in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi,Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, andTelugu are created for broadcast onAdventist World Radio.

This is the best vacation ever!” declared Arthur as heleaned back in the rowboat. He, his brother Vince, andtheir dad had rowed away from the campsite after sup-

per and were now anchored in a bay of the wilderness lake,watching animals along the shore.

“You bet,” agreed Vince. “Even Mom and the girls arehaving fun. Hey, do you think that Mom would actually pullthe trigger of the old shotgun if she needed us?”

“I doubt it,” laughed Arthur. “She hates guns.”Suddenly a mighty Boom! shattered the peaceful evening.

Mallard ducks rose quacking in surprise and fear. A doe andher fawn bounded into the forest.

The boys stared at their father. Dad grasped both oarstightly and began pulling as hard as he could. Mother neededthem. What had happened? He knew that it must be urgent,or his wife would never have fired that gun as a signal.

Suddenly Arthur noticed that they weren’t moving inthe water. “Dad, Dad,” he shouted.“We aren’t moving! The anchor isstill down.”

The two brothers began pullingat the rope that was attached tothe bucket of stones being used asan anchor.

“Quick! Cut the rope!” shoutedDad.

Vince grabbed his Scout knifeand began sawing at the rope.Arthur knew that every minutecounted, and he prayed that Jesuswould help Vince cut the anchorfree. Was someone hurt? Was therea bear in camp? Finally the laststrand fell away, and the rope sankto the bottom of the lake. Dadbegan rowing frantically for camp.

Rounding a point of the lake,the three saw Mom and the girlswaving and pointing back alongthe trail. When the boat hurriedup to the plank landing, Mom

helped steady it as she told Dad the news: the packhorseshad gotten away and were most likely headed home.

This was serious news: the family had traveled a full dayto get to the camp from the main road. Dad immediately setoff on foot to catch up with the horses.

Dad looked very tired when he arrived back in camp thenext morning, riding one horse and leading the other. “Youknow, Katie,” said Dad as the family talked over what hadhappened, “I never even thought about an anchor when Iheard that shot. I just knew I had to get back to you and thekids.” He laughed as he remembered rowing so hard butgoing nowhere.

“I think I’ve learned a useful lesson,” Dad added. “Thatold bucket of stones we used for an anchor is like the sins wedrag around with us sometimes—not letting them go. Wecan row and row all we like, but we will never get homeunless we are willing to let Jesus cut us loose from our sins.”

BONNIE WALKER

Cutting Loose

Family TimeOn Tuesday (or whatever day you like), invite your family to worship Godtogether.

☛ Ask each person to go to the driveway or some other place nearbyand bring back a stone they can hold in the palm of their hand. Or you cangather enough stones ahead of time for each person at your worship.

☛ Ask each person to write one thing on the stone that sometimeskeeps him or her from praying or from hearing God’s voice.

☛ Now place all the rocks in a small box or container and go out tothe garden or backyard and bury them. (If you have no garden or flowerbed,see if an adult can take all of you for a car ride to some area where youcan do this.)

☛ Read Isaiah 40:29 and Zechariah 4:6 to find out where the powerto be free really comes from.

☛ Kneel in a circle and ask Jesus to help you cut yourself free fromwhatever is keeping you from enjoying God’s grace.

✃


PH

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For the past seven years EstáEscrito, the Portuguese ver-sion of It Is Written, has beenone of the leading religioustelecasts in Brazil. During

that time more than 50,000 viewershave been baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in that country.For this reason, when IIW speakerMark Finley came to Brazil the firsttwo weeks of June to conduct the thirdACTS 2000 satellite evangelistic cru-

sade, he did so as a personality highlyrecognized throughout that nation.

This ACTS 2000 satellite “decision”series was designed to focus on many keyissues in God’s last-day message to theworld. Emphasizing a developing rela-tionship with Christ as Saviour, eachmessage targeted essential elements inpersonal preparation for His soon return.

The Largest CityThe host site was the Brazil College

campus on the outskirts of São Paulo,one of the world’s largest cities. Eachevening the campus church waspacked beyond its 2,100-seat capacity.From this site the nine-night serieswas uplinked more than 22,000 miles

to a satellite to return in less than halfa second to 450 receiver dishes atAdventist churches throughout Brazil,plus 1,500 dishes in homes of individ-ual Adventists to which guests hadbeen invited. Six cable companies alsobroadcast the series to their customers.It is estimated that more than 200,000people were in the viewing audience.

This use of home satellite dishes byBrazilian Adventists proved very effec-tive in reaching people with whom

members haveinfluence. Onemember reportedhaving 25 guestsin his home eachevening withthree making deci-sions for baptismduring the series.Another told ofhaving the chiefof police, thetown lawyer, ajudge, a formerregistrar of docu-ments, a cardiolo-

gist, a dental lab technician, and aninsurance executive as regular atten-dees. One can imagine the dynamicconversations that must have occurredfollowing each presentation.

Since this ACTS 2000 crusade wasone of the shorter “decision” series(some ACTS 2000 crusades are 21nights in duration), special emphasis wasgiven to interest preparation prior toopening night. As part of this, 3,500 setsof Finley’s Discoveries in Prophecy videoseries in Portuguese were shared withmany interests by Adventist laypeople.

Both weekends of the crusade sawnumerous baptisms carried out through-out Brazil. Initial reports indicate morethan 10,000 people have become

Adventists as a direct result of thisseries, with many more continuing tostudy and prepare for membership inthe Adventist Church.

In January of this year the first of theACTS 2000 satellite crusades wasuplinked in 10 languages from Manila,Philippines, to countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Thus far more than

20,000 baptisms have resulted. InMarch Pastor Finley was uplinked in 17languages from Kumasi, Ghana, primar-ily to sites in Africa. More than 30,000people have chosen membership in theSeventh-day Adventist Church. Yetmany more are continuing to study theBible beliefs of our church.

W O R L D N E W S & P E R S P E C T I V E S

ACTS 2000 Impacts Brazil


B Y R O G E R M O R T O N , P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S D I R E C T O R F O R T H E I T I S W R I T T E N T E L E V I S I O N M I N I S T R Y

ALL SMILES: Finley preaches at BrazilCollege.

FULL HOUSE: A capacity audience of more than 2,100 each nightjammed the Brazil College church, from where the ACTS 2000series was uplinked to satellite.

A NEW START: More than 2,000 peoplewere baptized in the South São PauloConference alone as the result of BrazilACTS 2000.


Brazilian Youth to Build Bridge Into theCommunity; Mega Event Planned inFlorianópolis

Five thousand Adventist youth are finalizing plans tospend four days in the coastal city of Florianópolis to

build a human “bridge of hope” in the community, fromOctober 8-11.

“We would like to do something more than just tomeet, play, and study together. The plan is to show ourChristianity in practice, as members of the community inwhich we all live,” explains Udolcy Zukowski, communi-cation director of the South Brazil Union. “Florianópolisis symbolic of that life and that religion in practice,wherever we come from.

“The meeting will be called ‘A Bridge of Hope.’ It fitswell with the presence of a historic bridge linking theisland of Santa Catarina and the mainland. It’s symbolicabout our interest in reaching out to those among whomwe live,” he adds.

Zukowski and his team of youth and communicationleaders met recently with the state governor of SantaCatarina, Esperidiao Amim, and the mayor and cityadministrators of Florianópolis to discuss the project.

“They were overwhelmed with enthusiasm to see ouryoung people join the city managers in making a differ-

ence for the citizens,” says Siloe de Almeida, director ofthe South American Division CommunicationDepartment. “They are making the city services availableto join the Adventist young people in a variety of activi-ties.”

Though Florianópolis is served by several Adventistcongregations, the church’s presence is not as significantas the church leaders desire. “The church is not as wellknown as it should be and could be,” explains DeAlmeida. “That’s why we feel it is important to make aparticular statement as to who Adventists are.”

The Bridge of Hope event will include projects in thepoor neighborhoods and fishing villages near Seventh-day Adventist churches.

To share hope, Adventist young people will developsome 20 community projects to supply necessities, creategoodwill, break down prejudice between people, andopen the hearts of individuals to the message of thegospel. “We will practically show our Christianity, butwill also share our Christian faith through a variety ofspiritual events which will be offered by the congrega-tions in the city,” explains one of the local ministers.

The state government mayor’s office will partner inthe program by providing materials and transportation.The individual projects will provide information andways to save electric energy and preserve water quality.

N E W S B R E A K


Argentina Goalkeeper ChoosesReligion Over Sports CareerB Y H U M B E R T O R A S I , D I R E C T O R O F T H E G E N E R A L

C O N F E R E N C E E D U C AT I O N D E P A R T M E N T, A N D R AYD A B R O W S K I , D I R E C T O R O F T H E G C C O M M U N I C AT I O N

D E P A R T M E N T

Carlos Roa, Argentinian soccer’s top goalkeeper,announced on June 25 that he is retiring from soccer for “reli-gious reasons.” Since his appearance with the ArgentinianWorld Cup squad last summer, Roa, 29, had repeatedly com-mented about his intention to quit professional soccerbecause it conflicted with his conviction about playing onSaturdays.

Roa had attended an Adventist school in Santa Fe,Argentina, and was nicknamed Lechuga (“lettuce”) by team-mates because of his vegetarian diet. After his school years,he, his wife, and his parents became Seventh-day Adventists.Reporters noted that on Saturdays, prior to international soc-cer games, he withdrew to his room to study the Bible. Roaidentified himself with the Adventist Church and its beliefsthat emphasize the whole being, according to Dario Bruno,

Roa’s former church pastor, who spoke about him during the1998 World Cup in France.

Announcing his decision at a press conference at the LuisSitjar Stadium in Mallorca, Spain, Roa said, “What I’m going todo from now on is more important than what I’ve been doing.”Citing religious convictions, Roa said that the cause of his say-ing goodbye to professional soccer was his faith, and theincompatibility of his membership in the Adventist Church withthe demands of his professional career, as reported in Clarin,a popular Buenos Aires newspaper.

“I was really happy playing soccer, but I am seeking forbetter things. I’m not making this decision with fear ordoubts. For a Christian, not everything is rose-colored. One’sfaith must be strong,” he explained.

“I asked God to give me the opportunity to play in the WorldCup, and He gave it to me. I asked Him to have a chance to playin Europe, and He also gave it to me. I want to fulfill my prom-ises to Him and to retire now,” he said.

Roa, who will be viewed by some as an example of a rolemodel of religious convictions, was named this season’s topgoalkeeper in the Spanish league after giving up only 29goals in 35 games and leading his Mallorca team to thirdplace and the European Cup Winners’ Cup final.

The projects will include painting monuments and wallsmarked with graffiti and improving selected schools, day-care centers, and nursing homes, with painting, garden-ing, and cleaning. The organizers are also aiming at set-ting up a computer school in the city.

Much of the activity will focus on health issues,including public lectures, five-day stop-smoking clinics,blood pressure checks, child vaccinations, and dentalhygiene talks. The Santa Catarina State Department ofHealth will be involved in supporting these activities.

“We also plan to organize a blood donation drive, afive-kilometer street race, a 25-kilometer bicycle race,and a swimming competition,” Zukowski says. “Morethan that, we will also be planting trees, cleaning beaches, and developing fresh water sources.

“Apart from practically witnessing about our faith asChristians, we are interested in dealing with real-lifeissues, such as bringing a greater awareness about ournew traffic laws, how to improve our neighborhoods, andhow to manage individual finances better. This, plusfeeding the hungry and clothing the poor, aims simply athelping people to live better.”

Each congregation in the city will be able to build amissionary bridge of hope for future church activities.“We also believe that our churches feel the necessity ofbecoming involved with the community by using an

inclusive, not exclusive, language of love and grace,”explains De Almeida.

“As the project is concluded, we aim to see that manycitizens of Florianópolis will be able to identify Seventh-day Adventists as the church of hope,” he adds.—Adventist News Network.

Street Evangelism Takes Root in Copenhagen

Street Evangelism Week in Denmark saw about 60young Adventists from all over the country join togetherwith the new church plant, Caféchurch, in Copenhagen,from July 9-18. Caféchurch has been in existence for ayear and is reaching Gen Xers with the Word of God in acafé setting.

The Danish Union Youth Department helped to planthis year’s project. Each morning the young peopleattended workshops, and every afternoon they went outonto the pedestrian areas with music, mime, puppetry,and questionnaires.

“The past six years have not yielded such a positiveresponse as we’ve experienced during this particularweek,” says youth director Anne-May Müller. “It wasvery encouraging to actually see young people who werecontacted on the streets attend seeker services.”

Seeker services were planned three times during the


N E W S B R E A K


Mr. Rogers is in the news again. Well, maybe not inthe headlines as late-breaking news, but he was fea-tured worldwide recently in a segment by Jeff

Greenfield on CNN and Time. To call the piece heart-warm-ing would be an understatement, sort of like saying that BillGates has some money.

Everyone loves Mr. Rogers, from the millions of fans whohave watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhoodover the past 30 years to the Hollywood intel-ligentsia who gave him his own star in thatfamous sidewalk. And why shouldn’t they?Here is a man whose lovely wife of 48 years insists he is no differ-ent at home than what we all see on the screen; a man who con-tinues to believe that the entertainment industry is obligated touse its power to promote what is right and good and noble.

Fred Rogers, a fine pianist and an ordained minister, hasnever quit buying and wearing used clothes. His sweaters,

including the one in the Smithsonian Institution inWashington, D.C., really were knit by his mother before shepassed away. He drives a nondescript older model car, butsays he can’t think of anything he would want that he doesn’t already have. He’s just happy to have helped somechildren along the way.

So if we all think Mr. Rogers is so great, why don’t moreof us emulate him? If we find his lifeappealing, why do we find fast-paced,self-centered acquisitiveness so allur-ing? If we value his soft-spoken, patient

bearing, why do we find so much to be impatient about? Ifwe think it noble for him to have devoted his life to makingthe lives of others better, shouldn’t we devote more of ourown energies to similar goals?

Maybe it’s not just little kids who need to be listening toMr. Rogers.

NEWS COMMENTARY

Mr. Rogers’ NeighborhoodB Y B E R T W I L L I A M S , A T E A C H E R AT M A X W E L L A D V E N T I S T A C A D E M Y, N A I R O B I , K E N Y A

Please pray for: Anuiela and Edlira, who are sharing God’slove in Albania.

With a small allocation of Global Mission funds from theTrans-European Division (TED), Migena Lovaci recently

started an outreachprogram for childrenin Tirana, capital ofAlbania. With fewerthan 200 Seventh-day Adventists,Albania is a bigGlobal Mission chal-lenge.

When Migena wascalled to assistADRA/Albania inhelping refugeesflooding into Albaniafrom Kosovo, twosecondary students,

Anuiela and Edlira (pictured), volunteered to continueworking with the children.

“Anuiela and Edlira sharetheir love for Jesus with up to15 children three times eachweek,” says Peter Roennfeldt,Global Mission coordinatorfor the TED. “The joy ofthese children who havelearned of Jesus can be seenon their faces. They love topray and share what Jesus isdoing in their lives.”

Seventy percent ofAlbanians are Muslim, 20 percentAlbanian Orthodox, and 10 percent Roman Catholic.Communism collapsed later in Albania than in other EasternEuropean countries, with greater unrest. Albania is now try-ing to rebuild its economy and infrastructure after many yearsof Communist dictatorship, isolation, and hardship.

Further Information If you would like to join the Global Mission Prayer

Ministry, or receive Global Mission newsletters, please call1-800-648-5824 or e-mail [email protected].


Global Mission Prayer Ministry

week and were all well attended. At the last service, heldon Sabbath afternoon, between 20 and 30 unchurchedpeople were in attendance.

“Friday evening we had planned a concert at theTown Hall Square featuring a famous Danish artist,Marie Carmen Koppel,” says Thomas Müller, one of thepastors at Caféchurch, “but because of the rain we had tochange the venue of the concert to the church. Much toour surprise, more than 300 people took the 10-minutewalk from the square to Caféchurch. Unfortunately, wehad to deny access to 50 of them because the place waspacked. The concert gave a very good impression of thechurch, and we believe that people will be more inter-ested in visiting Caféchurch now that they have seen thenice surroundings.”

“Besides filling young Adventists spiritually this StreetEvangelism Week has given Caféchurch good publicity,and we look forward to seeing how the Holy Spirit con-tinues to work with the people in Copenhagen,” con-cludes Müller.

Longtime British Educator Dies

Hugh Dunton, who served as an educator in NorthernEurope and West Africa for 40 years, died on July 6 inEngland. He was 73 years old.

Dunton was the founding headmasterof Peninsula Secondary School in SierraLeone, principal of Bekwai SDASecondary School in Ghana, and head-master of Stanborough SecondarySchool in England. He also taught atNewbold College in England and served

as education director and associate secretary of theNorthern Europe-West Africa Division (now the Trans-European Division).

Dunton, a historian, was also a noted writer. He was aregular columnist for British denominational magazines.

Dunton is survived by his wife, Britta, and his chil-dren, Roland and Susan.

What’s Upcoming

Sept. 11 Adventist Review emphasisSept. 18 Family Togetherness DaySept. 25 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering

for the Africa-Indian Ocean DivisionSept. 25 World Pathfinder DayOct. 3 Health Emphasis Week begins

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Even the “elect” can be challenged by subtle deceptions.

L I F E S T Y L E

BY ROBERT R. WRESCH

IRECEIVED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE BY e-mail chain letter, preceded by the addresses of hun-dreds of previous recipients:

Hello, my name is David “Darren” Bucklew. I live inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I attend Bethel Park High

School and participate in many sports. I have severe ostriopliosisof the liver (my liver is extremely inflamed). Modern science hasyet to find a cure. Valley Children’s Hospital has agreed todonate seven cents to the National Disease Society for everyname on this letter. Please send it around as much as you can.

Thank you, Darren.

PS: For those of you who don’t take five minutes to do this, whatgoes around comes around. You can help sick people, and it costsyou nothing.

Although the message is prefaced by the e-mail addresses ofmany previous forwards, Darren Bucklew’s own e-mail address isnot among them. We are thus unable to extend our condo-lences. I am not acquainted with Darren but am sorry to hearthat his liver is extremely inflamed.

However, there is a problem concerning Valley Children’sHospital, which, at least in Pittsburgh, does not exist. The mes-sage fails to explain how Valley Children’s Hospital could payseven cents to the National Disease Society, which also does notexist. Furthermore, we are not told how Valley Children’sHospital could possibly be made aware of the number of timesthis message has been forwarded.

Of special interest is Darren’s condition, “ostriopliosis.” Heinforms us that “modern science has yet to find a cure.” The sit-uation is even more serious than that: Modern science has yet P

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to discover such a disease.A call to Bethel Park High School

informs us that Darren Bucklew is, in fact,a student there. However, that’s wherethe truth ends. My respondent reportsthat Darren’s message has been circulatingthe Internet since July 1998. To helpcounteract this falsehood, the school hasplaced a disclaimer at the bottom of itsWeb page.

Darren’s plea ends with these words:“You can help sick people, and it costsyou nothing.”

Who would not wish to help sick peo-ple? Especially if it costs you nothing.Thus the appeal of this hoax.

But it concerns me that so many kindand well-meaning people are willing tobelieve without asking for evidence.Generous people can be easily deceived—which leads us from medicine to religion.

Quoting from the Bible, “The oldprophet answered, ‘I too am a prophet, asyou are. And an angel said to me by theword of the Lord: “Bring him back withyou to your house so that he may eatbread and drink water.” ’ (But he waslying to him.)” 1

Although Darren lied, he claimed nodivine authority for his information. Butprophets too can lie, even when theyclaim to declare the word of the Lord,transmitted by an angel.

Jesus predicted that we can anticipatemore such deceptions: “And many falseprophets shall rise, and shall deceivemany.” 2 “For many shall come in myname, saying, I am Christ; and shalldeceive many.” 3

Paul warned us of “false apostles,deceitful workmen, masquerading as apos-tles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satanhimself masquerades as an angel oflight.” 4

Again, Jesus warned, “For false messi-ahs and false prophets will appear and pro-duce great signs and omens, to lead astray,if possible, even the elect.” 5

Yes, even “the elect” can be chal-lenged by subtle deceptions. But mostdeceptions are not so subtle. Let us firstdevelop our discrimination on the easyones, not afraid to be demanding of evi-dence.

If your doctor labels your condition“ostriopliosis,” please quickly find another

doctor. If your religious instructors fail toground every point solidly on the evi-dence of God’s Word, please quickly findother instructors.

Better still, study the Bible for your-self. God has gone to a lot of trouble toprovide adequate evidence aboutHimself. How tragic to be deceivedbecause we failed to do our homework.■

1 1 Kings 13:18, NIV.2 Matt. 24:11.3 Verse 5.4 1 Cor. 11:13, 14, NIV.5 Matt. 24:24, NRSV.

Robert R. Wresch is an oph-thalmologist at the Seventh-day Adventist Clinic on theisland of Guam.


Of False Hierarchies and Human Gods

An old philosophy with evil consequences—then and now

T H E O L O G Y

BY ELIJAH MVUNDURA

Jesus was “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).1 AndHe Himself declared, “Anyone who has seen me has seen theFather” (John 14:9). Yet Jesus “made himself nothing, taking thevery nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). Why did Jesus assume thenature of a servant? Why did He take the lowest rank in humansociety? To answer these questions, let’s go back to the world inwhich He was born.

IN THE ANCIENT WORLD PEOPLE BELIEVEDthat gods, humans, and nature were linked in a GreatChain of Being that stretched from heaven down toearth. At the top of this cosmic hierarchy were kings.As such, they formed the connection between the

human and the divine worlds, deriving their authority fromtheir proximity to the gods. That’s why ancient kings wereeither “man-gods” or priest-kings.

A classic example was the Egyptian pharaohs. TheGreeks and Romans, for their part, initially deified rulersand heroic individuals posthumously (Alexander the Greatand Julius Caesar are prominent examples). But later bothGreek and Roman rulers deified themselves before death.There was the Greek king Antiochus IV, for example, whocalled himself “Theos Epiphanes” (“Evident God”). AndRoman emperors such as Nero, Caligula, and Hadrian.

It’s because Roman emperors claimed divine status (sym-bolized by emperor cult) that they persecuted the earlyChristians. Apparently, in proclaiming the divine lordship ofJesus Christ, these early believers were indirectly challengingthe divine claims of the Roman emperors.

Yet, given the divine claims of Roman emperors and

other heroic individuals in classical antiquity, hostilitytoward Jesus’ divinity presents a great historical irony. Andit’s interesting that modern scholarship, though raising manyquestions about the divinity of Jesus, has been virtuallysilent on the deification of ancient kings, emperors, andheroic individuals.

This selective hostility toward the divine claims of Jesusis not surprising. The problem is in the servant position thatJesus assumed. It was difficult—and still is—to reconcile thecontradiction between Jesus’ poverty and humility with Hisdivine claims. Pious Jews were genuinely mystified. God aservant—was He not omnipotent? God dying—was He notimmortal? The reaction of sophisticated Greeks was similar.To them, Jesus was simply human—all human. And forthem, humans served the gods, not vice versa.

No wonder Søren Kierkegaard described the Incarnationas the “absolute paradox.” 2 Jesus is an enigma, indeed. Buthow could it be otherwise? The second commandmentexplicitly forbade making an image of God (Ex. 20:4). Thiscould only mean that to worship Jesus, however exalted Hisearthly position, would have been sacrilegious. It would havebeen to represent God in the “image” of human kings, andthe kingdom of God in the form of earthly kingdoms. Butmaking things even worse, Jesus assumed not the highest butthe lowest position. In so doing, His servanthood became apowerful sign of God’s unrepresentable glory and majesty.

So We Might Approach HimIn Jesus divine glory is dramatically expressed through

absence. Yet the absence of dazzling glory and majesty


achieved another significant purpose. Itmade Jesus approachable and accessi-ble. Instead of covering our faces, as inthe case with Moses (Ex. 33:22), Godcovered Himself in human flesh. Sinnerscould now behold Him without dying.“The Word became flesh and made hisdwelling among us. We have seen hisglory, the glory of the One and Only,who came from the Father, full of graceand truth” (John 1:14).

If in Jesus human flesh sheltereddivine glory, what is the nature of the“glory” that John saw? Ellen Whiteprovides an answer. “The glory shiningin the face of Christ is the glory of self-sacrificing love.” 3 Significantly, divine

glory, in contrast to human glory, isnot derived from dimming or dimin-ishing others. Rather, as Jesus strik-ingly and consistently demonstrated, itcomes from uplifting and elevating thewretched, the lowly, and the despised.“For you know the grace of our LordJesus Christ, that though he was rich,yet for your sakes he became poor, sothat you through his poverty mightbecome rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). And in thewords of Ellen White, “the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life forearth and heaven.” 4

Indeed, self-renunciation is theessence of love. “This is how we knowwhat love is: Jesus Christ laid down his

life for us” (1 John 3:16). The funda-mental point is that there is no prece-dence in love. For love implies oneness,and oneness implies equality. “I in themand you in me. May they be brought tocomplete unity to let the world knowthat you sent me and have loved themeven as you have loved me” (John17:23). To underscore the unity that issupposed to animate Christians, Paulcompared the church to a body, thebody of Christ (1 Cor. 12:1-27).

No Room for HierarchyThe analogy of the body is instruc-

tive: it bars the ranking of body partsin any hierarchy of importance. Al-

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though the different vital functions ofthe organs are duly acknowledged,there is no preference or precedence(verses 22-25). “So that there shouldbe no division in the body, but that itsparts should have equal concern foreach other” (verse 25). Succinctly put,Christian love and unity are theantithesis of hierarchy.

Hierarchy means preference andprecedence. It differentiates betweenthe high and the low; between thehonored and the despised. But the mys-tery of divine love is that God createdus, not primarily to be His servants oreven His worshipers, but to be His chil-dren. And just as earthly parents laborand live for their children, so does Godfor His human family. And He doesmuch more. “I am among you as onewho serves,” said Jesus (Luke 22:27).Indeed, Christians cannot help unitingwith the apostle John in exclaiming:“How great is the love the Father haslavished on us, that we should be calledchildren of God!” (1 John 3:1). “Nowif we are his children, then we areheirs—heirs of God and co-heirs withChrist” (Rom. 8:17).

Our coregency with Christ bringsinto sharp relief one of the most perni-cious lies concocted by the devil—thelie that earthly hierarchies present areflection of the heavenly order. As weknow, it is the self-seeking Lucifer whofirst sought precedence in heaven. “Iwill raise my throne above the stars ofGod,” he declared (Isa. 14:13).Correspondingly and tragically, thesame desire for supremacy led to theFall. “You will be like God,” said thedevil (Gen. 3:5). But this was a lie. Webecame not like God, but like Satan.Accordingly, human societies took theircue not from the kingdom of God, but“from the dominion of darkness” (Col.1:13). That is why the hierarchicalprinciple, in one form or another, is thebasis of all pagan religions and societies.

Serious ImplicationsIt was the hierarchical principle that

informed the system of ancient andmodern slavery, the caste system, andmedieval serfdom. And it was also thesame hierarchical idea of the Great

Chain of Being (as it was called in theeighteenth century) that inspiredEuropean racism. The Aryan race wasbelieved to be at the top of this GreatChain. Conversely, at the bottom wereBlacks, generally thought to be the low-est link in the human chain that con-nected with the highest animal, the ape.

Interestingly, notwithstanding the sci-entific facade of the theory of evolution,it is also informed by the hierarchicalprinciple. Well before the publication of

the Origin of Species (by Charles Darwin)in the nineteenth century, scientists hadbeen absorbed in a search for the “miss-ing link” that joined man to animals in acontinuous chain of life. To a largedegree, the theory of evolution was wide-ly accepted in the nineteenth century—not so much because of its “scientificrigor,” but because it resonated with adeeply ingrained cultural myth, theGreat Chain of Being.

He Turned It All Upside DownA full exploration of the varied dif-

fusion and diabolical effects of the hier-archical ideology would take us far.Suffice it to say that the servanthood ofJesus goes far beyond theological anddoctrinal formulations. It literallytouches on every strand that has shapedhuman history. Such is the “wisdomfrom God” (1 Cor. 1:30). The ancientkings and the upper classes derivedtheir authority and status from their

assumed proximity to the gods. Nowonder God “chose the lowly things ofthis world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullifythe things that are, so that no one mayboast before him” (verses 28, 29).

In other words, by assuming theform of a servant Jesus completelyinverted the hierarchical order. Hecompletely destroyed it. Through Hisassociation with the poor anddespised, Jesus showed that not thehigh and mighty, but the humble andlowly are nearest to God. “For this iswhat the high and lofty One says . . .‘I live in a high and holy place, but alsowith him who is contrite and lowly inspirit’ ” (Isa. 57:15). Like the ancientpagan kings, Jesus claimed to (and did)connect heaven and earth, but in aposition directly opposite to the oneoccupied by the so-called divine-human monarchs. Whereas the pagangods were stationed at the top of thehuman hierarchy, the heavenly God-man took His position at the bottom.

Therefore, in Jesus, race, class, andgender hierarchies are completelydestroyed. Paul put it explicitly:“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slavenor free, male nor female, for you areall one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

Christ is the only link betweenheaven and earth. He told Nathanael,“I tell you the truth, you shall seeheaven open, and the angels of Godascending and descending on the Sonof Man” (John 1:51). If the Lord ofglory occupied the lowest rank inhuman society, can we dare assume ahigher position? ■

1 All Bible quotations are from the NewInternational Version.

2 Søren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments:Johannes Climacus, edited and translated byHoward H. Hong and Edna H. Hong (PrincetonUniversity Press, 1985), pp. 37-48.

3 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 20.4 Ibid.

Elijah Mvundura is anauthor and member of theGlendale Seventh-dayAdventist Church inIndianapolis, Indiana. He isa former history and sociology lecturer atSolusi University in Zimbabwe.

By assumingthe form of aservant, Jesus

completelyinverted thehierarchical

order.



CALVIN B. ROCK

The man who raped my daughter (a minor at the time)is now teaching physical education at an Adventistelementary school. Should I let the school know

about this? If I were a parent or grandparent of these chil-dren, I wouldn’t want someone con-victed (yes, he was convicted) ofsuch a crime anywhere near them.Besides, wouldn’t the school beliable if he struck again?

In dealing with this case and oth-ers like it, we must keep two princi-ples in view—first and most impor-tant, the protection of our childrenfrom possible sexual predators, andsecond, the possibility of the redemp-tion of the offender.

There are legitimate reasons foryou to approach the proper authori-ties; both revolve around the golden rule. If you were a parentyou would want the school officials to be aware of past crimi-nal convictions of its employees. And if you were one of theschool officials, you would want to know how best to avoidboth surprise revelations of past performances or repetitions ofthe offense. And, yes, in most of the United States the schoolwould be liable/negligent if further offenses occurred in theabsence of diligent research into the applicant’s background.

But please be clear; a past conviction does not necessarilysuggest repeat performance. There are a number of variablesto be kept in mind, such as: how long ago did the offenseoccur? What penalty did he pay for his crime? Was this hisonly such offense? Was he a church member at the time?Answers to these and similar inquiries should influence bothyour attitude and your approach.

Your feeling of not wanting this man who raped your daugh-ter to be near children is understandable. Indeed, school offi-cials should act with great caution in considering the employ-ment of all sexual offenders, even those whose offense mayhave been in the distant past. They must do all they can to pro-tect the children in their care. However, please leave room forGod’s grace to have effected genuine change and for the offi-cials to decide, if the individual’s subsequent experience sug-gests it, to give him the benefit of the doubt and make appro-priate use of what are, hopefully, his now consecrated abilities.

You chair both the General Conference’s Constitutionand Bylaws Committee and Policy Committee. The pastGeneral Conference session (Utrecht, 1995) made

numerous changes to church policies. Isn’t there a danger intinkering so much with our policiesand regulations?

The church’s business requires clearand sometimes detailed bylaws andpolicies for reasons of fairness, consis-tency, church unity, and a variety ofother operational concerns, manywith legal implications.

Is it possible to place too muchemphasis on bylaws and policies? Yes,among them: (1) structuring policiesto “get at” individual or localizedproblems rather than the church’sbroader operations; (2) encouraging

overcautious leaders in their inactivity unless there is a spe-cific rule that frees them to be active; (3) producing policybooks so voluminous and elaborate that they are generallyignored as impractical; (4) discouraging creativity and whole-some individuality by creating an overdependence upon par-ent organizations; and (5) substituting energies expended inpolicy and rules manipulation for involvement in active (per-sonal) gospel witness.

Ellen G. White sought to minimize the multiplying of poli-cies and the influence of what she called “policy men”(Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 263). She feared that thedynamism so instinctive to movements of reform would be sti-fled by the regulatory spirit of formalized machinery—and soshould we.

Will there be bylaw matters considered at the 2000General Conference session? Yes. But be certain they will beaddressed with the above principles in mind.

Calvin B. Rock is a general vice president of theGeneral Conference. He holds doctoral degrees inministry and Christian ethics.

Policies and PracticesF A I T H A L I V E !

“The man whoraped my daughter

is now teaching elementary

school.”

BY THOMAS P. MILLER

BE CAREFUL, OLD FRIEND; THERE AREthose who are jealous of your success and want tokill you.” The speaker, a Muslim, addressed thosewords to Kwaku Forkuo, a prosperous cocoafarmer who lived in a small village in Ghana.

“Don’t worry about me” was the laughing response. “I cantake care of myself.”

Starting Out AgainWithin a month Kwaku was dead. Was he poisoned? Did

he die of natural causes? All we know for certain is thatKwaku’s death put his wife, Monica, and their children intogreat financial difficulties. They were cheated out of theirinheritance, and Monica with her seven children had toreturn to her home village, Asokore.

The Forkuo family had very little money. Monica wasallowed to rent a piece of land to provide for her family. Butshe had to return half the produce—the most desirable andvaluable items—to the landlord for “rent.” In order to sur-vive, the family made porridge, which they sold to the othervillagers.

All Monica’s children—from the youngest to the old-est—had to work in the garden. And after they harvestedtheir produce they had to carry baskets full of vegetables ontheir heads to the market, walking many miles in the hottropical sun. Other children teased the boys for doing“women’s work.” Little did they realize it, but the Lord wastraining them in hard work, thrift, and diligence for theyears to come. In addition to their household duties, thechildren did well at school as the years passed.

Providential OpeningsEventually Yaw Boakye, one of Monica’s sons, went to

school in Bekwai to study business. There he met a fellowstudent with strange beliefs that were somehow compellingand convincing. The new friend was a Seventh-dayAdventist. After Yaw Boakye moved permanently to Accra,he became an Adventist and invited his brother, EmmanuelManu, to come live with him, to work, study, and attend theSeventh-day Adventist church.

Emmanuel likewise became a believer and was baptized.Eventually all the family, including Monica, was baptized.

S T O R Y

Africa’s Sons and DaughtersTragedy and adversity aren’t enough to keep God’s will from being accomplished in many

of the lives of His children.

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how the Lord has blessed them overthe years.

Emmanuel has said that years ago hewas a small African boy just like mil-lions of others who have very little tolook forward to. Then he gave himselfto the Lord, and his life was trans-formed. The best part is that most ofhis life is still ahead of him, as it is for

all who long for the second coming ofour Lord Jesus Christ.

The glory of the African church isnot in its large numbers of baptisms, butrather in the transformed lives of thesons and daughters of Africa who haveinvited the Lord into their lives. ■

Thomas P. Miller is directorof auditing services for theAfrica-Indian OceanDivision.

The glory of Africa is in the transformed lives of itssons and daughters.Emmanuel was on fire for the

truth. Although he was only 18, herented a tent, went back to his moth-er’s village, and ran an evangelisticcampaign. There were several bap-tisms. A small church was established.It now has its own building.

Emmanuel persisted with his studiesin accounting, and did well. When thechurch invited him to become an audi-tor, he became the first church-employed auditor to pass the examina-tions of the prestigious GhanaianInstitute of Chartered Accountants.He is now a chartered accountant,serving the church as a district directorin the General Conference AuditingService.

Whatever Happened To . . .I accompanied Brother Manu and

his mother to his late father’s village.It was Monica’s first visit to the vil-lage since her husband’s death manyyears ago. It has not prospered. Thosewho got her husband’s land are almostdestitute. We were surrounded byexcited villagers who gave us a memo-rable welcome. Emmanuel and hismother gave gifts to them and related



BY BRUCE NICOLA, JR.

The phone rang one morning at the church officein Livermore, California, jarring me back toreality from my concentration on the sermon Iwas preparing. On theother end of the phone

was the familiar voice of Dr. Grace,a longtime member of the churchand retired physician. I greeted her,spent a moment in small talk askinghow she was doing, then asked whatwas on her mind.

She was wondering if I couldstop by her house to pick up someboxes of clothing and deliver themto the Pleasant Hill CommunityServices building. I assured her thatwould be an easy request to fulfilland set up a time the following dayto get the clothing.

Upon arriving at her home the next day, I began carryingboxes of varying sizes from the garage out to my car parkedin the driveway. Dr. Grace supervised my trips from thegarage to the car. Soon the back seat and trunk were almostfilled with boxes. Only a couple boxes remained to be put inthe car. As I rearranged the trunk to accommodate the lasttwo boxes, I happened to look up and see my 85-year-oldmember struggling to bring one of the boxes to the car.Before I was able to help her, she had reached the car withher awkward, heavy load.

The next few seconds seemed to move in slow motionand were excruciatingly painful for me. The awareness ofwhat was about to happen choked any words I wanted to say.Then it happened. She heaved the loaded box of clothesonto the hood of my car. It was a fairly new Toyota Camry inmint condition—especially the beautiful, dark forest-greenmetallic paint job shining in the morning sun. Fingersscratching a blackboard would have been more musical tomy ears than the sound I heard and the picture I was wit-nessing. Helplessly I listened and watched as she pushed thebox across the hood of my car—a distinct, loud, gritty, grind-ing, and scraping sound ringing loudly in my ears.

I didn’t say anything as I hurried to get the box and sub-tly attempted to assess the damage. My worst fears were con-firmed. The dark forest-green metallic paint revealed a nine-

inch swathe of very fine white scratches ground into thehood of the car. Casually, without Dr. Grace noticing, Iwiped the area with my hand to see how badly the paint was

scratched. The scratches did notwipe off.

I placed the last box in the car,climbed in, thanked her for theclothes then drove to my destina-tion 40 miles away. During the next40 minutes of freeway driving, Istared at the scratches directly infront of me. Forty minutes of won-dering how Dr. Grace could not seewhat she had done to my car. All Icould see were many, many rows ofthin white line scratches in whatused to be unblemished paint.

I delivered the clothes to theCommunity Services center in

Pleasant Hill. Then I had another 30 minutes of driving to alunch appointment. As the minutes and miles passed, I slowlybegan to see those scratches differently. The focus of my feel-ings had been on my slightly scratched forest-green metallicpaint. I knew the hood of my car could be repaired and mostof the scratches could be removed with a little effort.

My feelings slowly began to shift from the scratchedpaint to the reason for all those boxes of clothes in the firstplace. I had been reacting in a narrow, self-centered way. Ihad failed to think in terms of all the memories neatly fold-ed and packed away in each box. Memories that could nolonger be made. Memories of a very special person in Dr.Grace’s life. And after reflecting on those scratches for morethan three hours of driving that day, I decided not toremove them. I needed the reminder.

You see, it had been just a little more than a year sincethose clothes had been worn by Dr. Henry, Grace’s husbandof 63 years. The real scratches were on her heart—not onthe hood of my car. ■

Bruce Nicola pastors three Seventh-day Adventistchurches in the Trinity Alps district, nearWeaverville, California.

ScratchesR E F L E C T I O N S

I began to seethose scratches

differently.

a sister’s legacy · 28 africa’s sons and daughters what hope is there for a continent often...

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